⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If you’ve been missing the raw, unfiltered version of Mitch Rapp—the one who kicks down doors and finishes the job by any means necessary—Don Bentley’s Capture or Kill delivers in full. This is Bentley’s second Mitch Rapp novel, and he steps into Vince Flynn’s combat boots with confidence. The result is a high-stakes prequel that’s both a throwback and a thrill ride. Set in 2011, just before the raid on bin Laden’s compound, the story drops Rapp into a deadly web of Iranian plots, CIA infighting, and an off-the-books mission with world-shifting consequences. Rapp is younger, less restrained, and running hot. And Bentley captures that heat brilliantly. Longtime fans will appreciate […]
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Agent 355 by Marie Benedict – A Revolutionary Story That Ends Too Soon
⭐⭐⭐☆☆ I’ve always appreciated Marie Benedict’s mission to spotlight the untold stories of women throughout history. Some of her books are hits, others are misses—Agent 355 lands somewhere in the middle. It’s a quick novella that I whipped through in no time, but it left me feeling unsatisfied. The premise is compelling: a mysterious female spy working within the Culper Ring during the American Revolution. There are moments of intrigue, particularly in the espionage scenes and political maneuverings, but they’re buried under repetitive inner monologues and uneven pacing. Readers hoping for a vivid, pulse-pounding spy thriller may find this more subdued and speculative than satisfying. The story feels underdeveloped, and the […]
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Pippa Latour’s Astonishing WWII Memoir
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½ rounded up to 5 What a story! I’ve read my share of WWII spy novels—some gripping, some not—but The Last Secret Agent is something else entirely. It’s not a novel. It’s the real-life account of Pippa Latour, the last surviving British female spy from Churchill’s Special Operations Executive, finally telling her story after decades of silence. Pippa parachuted into Nazi-occupied France at 23, posed as a teenage soap seller, and risked her life to send 135 coded messages to London. No gadgets. No backup. Just grit, silk hair ribbons, and nerves of steel. She worked alone, passed through Gestapo checkpoints, and survived—one of the few who did. What makes […]
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Double Agents, Double Timelines, and Double the Tension
Charles Cumming’s Box 88 kicks off a gritty and brainy spy series with a foot in two eras: the Cold War’s dying days and the chaos of modern espionage. Lachlan Kite is the man in the middle—recruited straight out of boarding school into a shadow agency so secret even MI5 doesn’t know it exists. One minute he’s in France tailing an Iranian businessman tied to the Lockerbie bombing. The next, it’s 2020, and he’s being tortured for the secrets he uncovered thirty years earlier. Cumming pulls off the dual timelines with real finesse. The flashbacks don’t feel like detours—they add layers, deepen the stakes, and keep the tension tight. The 1989 […]
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A Smart, Tense Espionage Thriller with a Fierce MI5 Operative
British author Henry Porter delivers a gripping spy thriller with The Enigma Girl, proving why he’s considered a worthy successor to John le Carré. The novel introduces Slim Parsons, a disgraced MI5 agent who’s as sharp as she is dangerous. After a botched deep-cover operation leaves her with a target on her back, she’s reluctantly pulled back in to infiltrate an investigative news site. What starts as a routine job soon turns into a tangled web of political intrigue, cyber threats, and old enemies resurfacing with a vengeance. Tension, layered subplots, and sharp character work fill the novel. Slim is an exceptional lead: smart, resourceful, and unafraid to challenge authority. […]
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Electrifying Action: Brian Freeman Delivers with The Bourne Shadow
Brian Freeman’s The Bourne Shadow is an absolute knock-out. The fifth installment in Freeman’s continuation of the Jason Bourne series is everything you’d want in a high-octane thriller—loaded with tension, packed with action, and impossible to put down. Freeman dives into David Webb’s haunting past, weaving a taut narrative that forces Bourne to confront secrets buried under years of amnesia. When a woman unexpectedly recognizes him as Webb, it sets off an electrifying chain of events that thrusts him into a breakneck journey across Europe. From neo-Nazi cells to political intrigue, the stakes couldn’t be higher as Bourne searches for answers about his forgotten life. The pacing here is masterful. […]
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Our American Friend: A Glamorous Cold War Spy Tale with Modern Echoes
Our American Friend takes readers on a journey of espionage, love, and political intrigue. Journalist Sofie Morse, disillusioned after covering President Henry Caine’s administration, is invited by First Lady Lara Caine to write her biography. Lara, a Russian-born former model, shares her secretive past, drawing Sofie into a tale of Cold War espionage, betrayal, and a doomed romance with dissident Sasha, whose influence reshaped her life. Anna Pitoniak alternates timelines between 1970s Paris, where Lara’s youthful idealism clashes with Soviet realities, and Sofie’s present-day efforts to understand Lara’s motives. The story’s global settings—Moscow, Paris, and Washington, D.C.—and complex characters add depth. The novel’s structure can feel disjointed, especially in audio […]
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Espionage Meets Art: Gabriel Allon Returns in Portrait of an Unknown Woman
Daniel Silva’s 22nd Gabriel Allon installment returns the legendary spy to his original passion: art restoration. Now retired, Allon’s peaceful life in Venice with his wife and children gets upended when he’s drawn into the high-stakes world of art forgery. His old friend Julian Isherwood faces ruin over a dubious Van Dyck painting, pushing Allon back into the game. What follows is a skillful blend of art and espionage as Allon crafts forgeries of his own to ensnare a shadowy forgery syndicate and its financial backer. Silva’s sharp storytelling and insight into the art world shine, giving readers an inside look at the craft and deception of forgery. The plot […]
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A High-Octane Thriller with Unfinished Business
3.5 rounded up to 4. Deep Sleep is a pulse-pounding journey into the shadowy world of espionage and conspiracy. The story centers on Devin Gray, a countersurveillance expert drawn into a dangerous mission following the death of his estranged mother, Helen, a former CIA officer notorious for her paranoia. Most dismissed Helen’s obsession with a vast conspiracy, but when Devin discovers the clues she left behind, he realizes her fears were justified. With the help of former Marine pilot Marnie Young and a team of covert operatives, Devin uncovers a deep-rooted Russian sleeper network that has infiltrated the highest levels of American society. Konkoly’s military background shines through in the […]
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